'Honesty Is Key to Fight Against Corruption'

By Julius Yao Petetsi

AHEAD of the launch of his book titled, "Fighting Corruption in Ghana; Why, How and by Whom" Superintendent Johnson Ganyo (Rtd) has observed that honesty of persons in authority to arrest the canker remain the remedy to the fight against corruption.

In the view of the retired police officer who has over 35 years experience in the service, Ghana's fight against corruption would continue to be a mirage if there was no commitment from the mandated authorities and personnel.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghanaian Times in Accra ahead of the launch of the 391-page book on July 28, Superintendent (Rtd) Johnson Ganyo said "if you are not honest, you can never fight corruption.

"To fight corruption, you must be committed to your nation. It is your nation first and also your own integrity."

The eleven-chapter book, to be launched at the British Council, Accra, highlights how deep rooted corruption is both in the private and public sectors which have dire effects on society and its well-being.

Laced with his experience as an investigator for several years at the defunct National Investigations Commission, the book takes the reader into the investigative room of the police and tells how difficult it is to establish acts of corruption in Ghana.

Asked what his motivation was to author the book which he expects to be a blockbuster, the retired police capo said "I want to tell people that it is not difficult to abstain from corruption. It is not difficult at all especially if you value the beliefs of your religion."

The Buddhist admitted that though people were likely to be corrupted due to constant association with money as a result of what they do, he said "if your religion teaches you that that money is not for you, you don't have to touch it."

"My name is Ganyo [to wit money is good] but where that money does not belong to me I run away from it" the 74-year old stressed.

Sharing some experiences whiles he was in active service, the retired police officer who now heads the security department of an international conglomerate here in Ghana said he had reported some of his colleagues who tried corrupting him to their superiors and they landed in jail.

"If you are fighting corruption, you don't cover up anybody. You don't discriminate when you are fighting corruption and that is where honesty and integrity comes to play," he stated.

According to him much was not being done in fighting the canker and that there must not be selectivity recommending that "if we want to win the fight against corruption, we must be resilient, faithful to ourselves and must not discriminate."

Without being categorical if the three former Presidents of the republic, who have been presented with copies of the book, would be in attendance, Mr. Ganyo, urged "people who are interested to know what I have written in this book" to grace the occasion.

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